TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 MAZDA MAZDA3. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE PARKING, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AND CRASHED AGAINST A CEMENT POLE. A POLICE REPORT WAS NOT FILED AND NO INJURIES WERE REPORTED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE WHO STATED THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO FURTHER INSPECT THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE AND CURRENT MILEAGE WAS UNKNOWN.

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. I was going around 40mph in 4th gear and i hit the clutch to go into neutral. The clutch felt normal, and then clicked down farther, which was weird. I went around the corner and tried to put it in 2nd. I wouldn't go down until i almost had to force it. It felt like it was grinding so i pulled over. I put it back in neutral and turned the car off. The clutch pedal was stuck to the floor so i had to pull it back up with my hand. When i turned it back on, it wouldn't go into any gear at all. The car is only 2 months old and only has 2500 miles on it. They are trying to tell me i'm misdriving it. They took it for a test drive and nothing happen, it was fine. Today it happened again and i had to have it toed back to Mazda. They are now saying that the clutch is burnt up and that its all my fault and are trying to charge me $1400 because its not covered by the warranty. Has anyone else experienced this?!?! PLEASE HELP!!!

Hey there,I have exactly the same issue as you (2012 Mazda 3 with Skyactiv). surging of accelerator when gearing down from 4th to 3rd and same going up. I also have issues with the transmission not wanting to go into gear, mostly from 3rd to 4th, sometimes 4th to 5th and sometimes 6th. Same issue gearing down. Sticky. Always intermittent, never a consistent issue. Dealership told us to drive car for 1500 kms to see if issue goes away. It has not. Going back to dealer next week and will get you an update.

Had another incident yesterday afternoon. This time though I had the data recorder and was able to mark the data for Mazda Canada Inc. to review. Apparently, the recorder is constantly recording and I just had to "mark" the data (i.e. tapped the brake X amount of times, note the time and date and then turn the car off for at least 30 seconds when it was safe to do so, to give the engineers a starting point).

The car is now back at the dealers until it is repaired, replaced or bought back. I refuse to drive it as I do not feel safe driving it after the near miss I had yesterday (almost rear ended the car in front of me).

The transmission appears suspect, but nothing is concrete until the data has been reviewed. I feel so relieved that the data is recorded and not having to drive that car. It is sad as the car is barely 4 months old with less than 4700 KM.

Squiggly 1 - I am having the exact same issues as you, and have been since I purchased my 2012 Mazda 3 GS-SKY 6MT in September. Mine is almost at 2000 KM now, and I have a service appt. booked in a week or so. However, when I talked on the phone to the service dept. they had never heard of the issue, and have never heard of being able to get a data recorder for a car.

Since you reference Mazda Canada, I am assuming that this data recorder you had installed on your car happened somewhere in Canada / is available in Canada? That was the first thing that the service department asked me, and I wasn't sure at the time. If you did obtain this in Canada, that will help me make a push for the data recorder as I am sure they will not be able to replicate the issue and will only waste my time.

Like you, this is a worry-some issue as the unpredictable and intermittent nature of the acceleration can get you into some pretty bad situations, and likely worse situations now that the possibility of snow falling is likely. To give you some extra information on my cars issues (in case it helps for anyone out there), my car will randomly accelerate when little or no gas is given during a downshift (generally into 3rd or second), and as well it tends to happen on turns (though not always). I have had the RPM jump anywhere between a few hundred and 1000 (which would put the total RPM up near 4500 or so), which provides a considerable "surprise" acceleration.

I would appreciate hearing about the results of your recent trip to the dealer with your recorded data when you hear back from them! I hope this issue gets solved for you.

The data has been analyzed and IMHO is quite surprising (a bit of sarcasm there)...-The data showed rpms of 3100 not the actual 4000. In my model, 4000 is ~center on the tachometer so it is pretty easy to glance down and see the needle standing on end -The data also indicated that the transmission never engaged 2nd gear, rather stayed in neutral. Hmmmmmm, the gear shift was in the 2nd gear position where I was sitting. This concerns me.

Then I was asked whether or not I have troubles shifting into gear. From time to time I experience what i will call hesitation shifting into gear, but nothing drastic. I also believe it is usually shifting from 2nd into 3rd.

The engineers had the dealership look for any trouble codes again and check for air leaks at or near the manifold. I do not know the outcome of that, nor see how that would prevent the transmission from engaging 2nd gear.The dealership also has to send additional files of data from the car to the engineers. Not sure why, they did a similar thing initially.

The last response I received this afternoon is that they are still working on a diagnosis and it is a long process communicating the data.

I will update when I have more information. Not much to go on at the moment.

Thanks for your update on the analyzed data from the recorder, Squiggly. I am sorry to hear that the process is still ongoing for you, even after the data has been analyzed. I hope they find a solution for you soon.

Here's an update on how things are going with my car:

My car went into the shop last week and the dealer was unable to replicate the issue (not surprising considering how intermittent this issue is). The dealership has contacted Mazda Canada, and they have requested that the dealership try rebooting / reinstalling the firmware in the computer of the car and perhaps try some other things as well (not sure what). I am hoping this fixes my car, as today alone I had 2 large RPM jumps (probably 1500 higher than what it should have been) when shifting from 3rd to 2nd. Needless to say, the acceleration was strong and I threw the clutch in pretty quick once it happened. This issue is getting even more stressful now that snow and ice are on the roads where I live.

Squiggly, did your dealership try reinstalling the firmware in the computer in your car at any point?

Thanks again for your continued updates as you progress towards finding a solution to this issue. I will continue to update my progress as well.

There was a firmware update the first time I took the car in I believe.

I am actually on my way to the dealership this am. They have requested I road test the vehicle with them to ensure that what I am experiencing is not normal performance of the car and in hopes to get me to replicate the issue.

I am not sure what part of sporadic and random is not understood. I can't just make it happen or I would have done that 5 months ago! I can't help but feel this is a test to ensure I know how to drive a standard. I could be wrong though. I will keep you posted.

Back from the road test with the dealership. It wasn't that bad afterall.

Basically we confirmed that I know how to drive the car, nothing I am doing is causing the issue (or obviously we would have experienced it then) and that the car's normal performance is not what I am referring to.

Obviously no steps further ahead. I just received this from the dealership,

"We completed extensive testing of the vehicle electrical system this morning and reported all the data to MCI. Engineering has reviewed all the data and the vehicle electrical system is operating normal. We have made every possible effort to duplicate the concern and can not recreate what you describe is happening. There is nothing further that we can do without experiencing the symptom. MCI will no longer cover the rental. I will have your car cleaned and ready in the morning."

Hopefully you all have better luck than I. There is always CAMVAP - Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan.

Wow, I am so sorry to hear that they just dismissed your case like that. It's very unfortunate that Mazda Canada doesn't seem to back their cars even when issues with safety concerns like this arise. It is not fair at all that because the issue is intermittent and it hasn't happened to them yet, that we have to get stuck with faulty cars with safety issues.

It seems pretty clear in some of your earlier posts that you have had quite a few large accelerations after down-shifting. Seeing as Mazda Canada doesn't want to own up to this issue, have you considered involving the media in any way?

I just wanted to chime in, i read a little bit. I have a 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactive 6 speed doing the same things as well. I have almost hit two people because of the busts of acceleration. The service department blows me off every time. It has 2000 miles on it now. It had 180 and I've been dealing with these issues since day one:

Clunks badly putting it in 1st and from 1st to 2nd.Sticks in ALL gears pretty bad.Refuses to go into 1st and 2nd gear as well as reverse intermittently.Accelerates on its own, sometimes gradually, sometimes in bursts.

I contacted Mazda, they assured me that these are not normal things to be happening and said that they would contact the dealership themselves, so i am taking the car in for the 6th time in 40 days. And refusing to pick it up until the issue is resolved. The 2011 LOANER i had for a couple days was nicer to drive and i didn't have to worry about it driving off on its own.

My car was with the dealership for 3 weeks (after I dropped it off and refused to get it until it was fixed, replaced or bought back.) We know how that turned out.

I finally told the service manager I traded the car in the day after I picked it up. He was totally shocked and amazed. I am not sure why........ Am I supposed to keep driving a car that randomly accelerates on icy snowy roads and risk my life and/or someone elses. Not a risk I was willing to take, regardless whether Mazda would be the one sued or not!

Thought I would add my experience on this matter as I have had the same issue (rpm surge), even well after the 'break in' period (over 5k). I could not replicate the issue for the dealership of course and they did not respond to my last email(s) for a follow up as the issue persisted. The analyst who did take the test drive with me mentioned that there's a 'relay sensor system' with the clutch/ transmission rather than the 'cable' which tells me there's a possible 'lag' in communication happening (my best guess). Keeping that in mind, I've made a point of 'touching the floor' every time I shift (up or down) and have had no problems so far. It would seem there is no 'forgiveness' in the clutch when shifting. It's easy to get a bit 'lazy' on the shift in the daily rush hour commute (especially for us women who wear heels). Anyway, I will continue to be mindful of my shifting and hope this issue is behind me (especially since I otherwise love this car).Hope this provides some insight for someone else.

Yeah, they use the surprised facade so they don't have to take responsibility.If they think we should be paying for cars that don't work properly brand new, then maybe they should try it. This is what i had to do, i decided to just say screw the service department and their [non-permissible content removed]. I emailed Mazda several times and printed them out and made a formal complaint online and printed out my post here. At this point i didn't even care if it would help. But i decided to go in when service was CLOSED. Well it worked. The guy who i talked with was like OH HELL NO this is a safety issue, i cant believe this! He put me in a brand new one over night. DROVE LIKE A DREAM. I brought it back, made the tech drive mine AND the new one and reluctantly, after previously telling me he had driven my car several times and that basically i was being a picky brat, agreed, that the car had a problem. So Mazda FINALLY after 2 months agreed to give me a new transmission. But it took that comparison for anyone to listen. I feel like i know more than the service department does. I cried when they finally said they'd fix it. So relieved.

Side note. The acceleration issue. After basically making me feel like i was a liar and i was an unknowing unintelligent girl, he finally chimed in saying oh yeah the acceleration is a broken SENSOR. That was after he found out he had to do my transmission. Before he was like HUH thats weird. Are you sure? IDIOTS.

Thanks for the replies. I unfortunately am still occasionally experiencing the surge (actually happens on the shift up as well). I will take this thread into my dealer (service & mgt) and get a resolution (whether from them or Mazda Canada).Thanks again to all for your post(s).

Yeah mine happened on both as well, and it was usually in low gears like 2-4 not normally 5-6th. I would recommend trying to document when and why it happens, either way its a safety thing, just like a car not going into gear would be. If they have to ship the dealer a little black box then i would fight for that. Or i would ask to drive a new one for a couple days to see if it does it in that one. DONT GIVE UP. If you don't go away they'll have to do something. No one complains about a new car multiple times without a problem!